Polls 2011: NRIs to debut as voters in Kerala

Kerala will march to polling booths on Wednesday amidst tight security to decide the fate of 971 candidates.

Candidates of the two fronts — the ruling Left Democratic Front and United Democratic Front — engaged in ‘silent’ campaigning on Tuesday, focusing on house-to-house canvassing, renewing old acquaintances and contacting voters over the phone.

For the first time NRIs in Kerala will get a chance to vote. However, only 8,862 NRIs have registered, while an estimated 2.2 million Malayalees work abroad, mostly in Gulf countries.

At the Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee head quarters, Union defence minister AK Antony chaired a meeting of party office bearers. Antony had been the lead campaigner of the UDF, firing salvos at the LDF, especially targeting chief minister VS Achuthanandan.

On the other front, CPI(M) state secretary Pinarayi Vijayan held discussion with politburo member S Ramachandran Pillai at AKG Bhawan, the party head quarters.

Kerala has more women voters (1,20,55,313) than men (1,10,92,558). However, out of the 971 candidates in the race, only 78 are women. Prominent political parties reserved almost all ‘sure’ seats to men, assigning most of the women candidates to mission impossible.